Austin, Texas, is an Eden for the young and unambitious, from the enthusiastically eccentric to the dangerously apathetic. Here, the nobly lazy can eschew responsibility in favor of nursing their esoteric obsessions. The locals include a backseat philosopher who passionately expounds on his dream theories to a seemingly comatose cabbie, a young woman who tries to hawk Madonna's Pap test to anyone who will listen and a kindly old anarchist looking for recruits.
It's almost a strength that all of the characters sound like the same person, as it gives this rather random film the coherence it needs. Still, it makes it impossible for any two people to have a disagreement as they are, in effect, arguing with themselves. I wasn't too surprised at the gender relations in this film (why does this movie seem to mock feminist perspectives?), but the number of references to conspiracy theories was quite curious, especially as this was released a year or so before Oliver Stone's JFK. This makes Slacker oddly prescient of the 1990s — lacking a history of its own, the decade reheats the soggy leftovers of previous American subcultures.
